I have been thinking about the university quite a bit and have a few ideas in mind. After seeing the discussion about the cathedral as being a place of both worship and magic, I thought the University could be the "alternative" counterpart: A place of observation and technology (just a different kind of religion and magic really).

Overall, my idea for the university is to contain the spirit of MC within a school. There would be departments and facilities (i.e., colleges) designed for the study of specific MC things: "The College of Engineering (redstone)", "The College of Kinesiology (Adventuring)", "The College of Earth Sciences (Mining, biomes)", "The College of Physics (water, lava, sand, arrows, tnt behavior, teleporting, spawning, etc.)", "The College of Music (Note blocks and records", "The College of Architecture and Enginerring (Structures)", "The College of Agriculture (animal husbandry and farming)", "The College of Military Sciences (weapons, armor, strategy, etc.)", "The College of Behavioral Sciences (player and mob behavior", and so on.

I have been researching and discovered that many schools of Medieval Earth borrowed a great deal from places of knowledge before the time. Thus the structures I have in mind are a bit of a hodgepodge. I envision exterior of the great structures to appear Greco-Roman, and the interiors late-ish Medieval. I think the center of the University should be the great library. It would be a library, as well as offices, commons, etc. (The library was pretty much the seat of academic power back then). I have found inspiration for how I envision the interior to look from Trinity College in Ireland:

Spoiler

I am still considering the exterior, but I would really like it to combine the Greco-Roman with Medieval elements.

There is also plenty of imagination room for a variety of grounds and other facilities (auditoriums, food halls, dorms, etc.) and grounds (pools, ancient sites and relics, gardens, etc.). Sewers, vaults, and other underground accoutrement would also be swell.

These are my ideas so far!

My plan is to begin developing the library out structurally and the work from there. There is a potentially much bigger project that would be one of a kind for this library, but I want to wait and see how things go before broaching that subject.

Any ideas, comments, suggestions or interest? Write ya a dang reply to this thread!

There are many beautiful libraries in the world but I think none compare to Trinity College. Look at it! What a work of art. I really hope you can recreate this as your centre piece. It will look amazing!